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26 March saw several thousands of people from all backgrounds protest on the streets of London. Organised by The Trades Union Congress (TUC), many came from near and far to voice their disdain over the government’s manhandling of UK public services. With protesters ranging from students to pensioners, 26 March exhibited the kind of unity last seen in the anti-Iraq war march of 2003. People from all kinds of professional and political persuasions stood shoulder to shoulder to voice their anger and to, ‘March for the Alternative’.

Deemed as an all-round success, no one can deny that the events in the day were mostly peaceful and paid tribute to the stella organisation skills of the TUC. However as the day moved on, a more aggressive form of ‘protest’ developed. We’ve all read about the backlash and many heard of the ammonia filled light bulbs that were thrown at the police.

As shocking as this was, this violent undertone of protest is unfortunately nothing new. There will always be a violent aspect to larger protests whether from a minority group of ‘protesters’ or the aggressive actions of the police, Ian Tomlinson being a fitting example among many others. People looking to cause trouble will always gate crash other people’s causes and use it as a platform to justify their own violent behaviour.

However can the same be said for the minority involved in the Black Bloc movement, a masked group who vandalised symbolic property throughout the march? Their anonymous interview in the Guardian was telling. Far from the yobs and misfits the government would have us label them; they spoke articulately about their cause and motivations and were able to voice this to the mainstream media without sacrificing their anonymity. And for the group to do something seemingly spontaneous (although this is a bit too hard to believe) and still out-fox the police indicates that this required more than a black hoodie but actual brain power.

As misguided was these actions were, they brought the demonstration and the nature protest to the top of the agenda. Granted, with up to an estimated 500 000 people protesting for such a topical and important cause; it was always going to attract media attention. But rightly or wrongly, to what extent would this have happened without the actions of these alternative movements such as the Black Bloc? Although for the most part the media was clear that the main demonstration was a success, the debate that lingered was over the nature of the violent protests. What does this say about our society when it is violence and damage that attracts more headlines? Do you remember the fire-fighter’s protest last September or the recent protests in Germany against nuclear power? These were peaceful protests that didn’t stay in the media spotlight for long, presumably because respectful people protesting in the streets en mass and then going home isn’t sexy media fodder.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to don my balaclava (and in this weather?!) and hoist a paintball gun on my back. I saw the damage done to those shops and the fear these actions inflict on others who have nothing to do with the government. Despite the Black Bloc’s intention to, ‘send a message’ I couldn’t help wonder who they actually thought they were hurting. Something tells me that Phil Green isn’t about to roll up his sleeves and start scrubbing the paint off the walls of Topshop. It’s the underpaid worker that has to deal with it which only maintains the vertical structures we live in where the ‘poor’ cleans up after the mess of the rich. Continue reading →

The important thing about this film is the question mark at the end of its title. At first, watching Requiem for Detroit? (2010) was like taking a walk through a post apocalytpic novel. With a soundtrack that crams in all the musical references you’d expect from a film about this particular city, directed by music video and documentary man Julien Temple. That’s how I felt anyway when I watched it with barely woken eyes at 10am at the Rich Mix for 6 Billion Ways. But then I gave it more thought, and I realised (or maybe read into it), that it’s actually quite a positive film about creativity. Although it starts off with insightful post capitalist wasteland-esque gloom, it leaves its audience with a strong sense of the utterly inspirational burgeoning creativity (artistic, musical and urban-agricultural) of Detroit’s pioneering citizens, old and new.

Check out this short video for the excellent Voices that Shake project, which brings together young people, artists and campaigning. It is a collaboration between Platform London, an organisation that merges art and campaigning on social and environmental issues, and the Stephen Lawrence Centre. My friend, excellent poet, fellow writer, and co-creator of this blog, Selina Nwulu, was involved in the spoken word and poetry side of the project, which also included music and filmmaking. They had a preview performance at the Arcola Theatre last Saturday, which was pretty sick. Check out the video, made by production company/social enterprise Chocolate Films, and hear Selina’s skin-tinglingly good poetry here:

Lyrix Organix, who I reviewed late last year, and whose presence at Glastonbury this year looks set to be pretty amazing, have a show coming up at Rich Mix, East London on the 26th Feb. The event will be as live hip hop, spoken word, and lyrically and acoustically infused as you’d expect, though it’ll be probably be even better than that. Plus it’s all in aid of MSF. I met Dan, who organises these events (though I haven’t met anyone else involved, so sorry if I’m missing you out!),and all I’m saying is that you can pretty much tell straight away that he does all this for the genuine next level love of showcasing artists with talent and passion. He’s one of those people who works in a full time day job and does all the Lyrix stuff he does on the side, and makes it so good. I’m really not sure how he does it, it’s pretty amazing. Last time I went the show really had a unique inimitable vibe, and from reading other reviews and comments it seems previous shows seem to have had the same effect on people. Or maybe this is the kind of thing that just couldn’t be more up my street which is why once again I’m struggling not go overboard with the superlatives. Here’s some of the line up for the night:

The Frontline Club is screening Videocracy, a documentary by Erik Gandini about Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s TV Empire tonight. If I could I’d go. I studied Italian, and had a chance to watch some of the most shockingly dire neurotoxic crudely sexified Berlusconi-owned TV I hope never to see again.

You can watch the trailer here, though in my dim-witted state of morningness I find it a bit confusing:

Kanye West has had his fair share of planned and unplanned controversy. His latest misdemeanour comes from the leaked video teaser of his song, ‘Monster’ from his latest album, My Dark Twisted Beautiful Fantasy.

The teaser, from HipHopConnection.com, is only 40 seconds long but still gives a pretty vivid impression of the general tone of the video. In it are dead women, stripped down to their underwear, hanging by chains around their necks. There are also women who appear to be either dead or drugged sprawled out on the sofa.

I am all for freedom of expression as much as the next creative but what kind of message is being sent out in a video where Kanye makes sexual advances to dead and drugged women propped up on a bed? If this was done by anyone else in any other capacity, would we be as forgiving or as passive? Why is it somehow OK if you’re a rapper and have a gold tooth? Kanye’s derogatory views about women are well noted in his songs but as Kanye holds the decapitated head of a woman in this video, I can’t help but think this is chillingly dark new territory which does nothing but create gratuitous controversy.

Latoya Peterson writes a brilliant and insightful piece about this and how the video links in to racialised gender politics. Although it’s clear that Kanye’s video comes from a long stream of misogynistic music videos built on derogatory values, Peterson picks up on another interesting point. All of the dead women in the video are white whereas the black women in the video tend to fulfil fearsome, beast like roles in which they mimic werewolves and eat live flesh. This disturbing video not only unearths the time old depiction of black women as one-dimensional and barbaric but is also unapologetic in its sexualisation of violence. Continue reading →